Super-duper mundane poll: Help out the statistics student!

In My Humble Opinion
41

Male, 39, agree

42

Ditto. And for potential sources of bias, remember you took this poll not as a random sample of the population, but as a random sample of Dopers. We are not normal, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. You’ll probably get more people from each gender skewing to “agree,” because we tend to be academically curious and a little more scholarly than your average person.

Also we’re not all Americans, I don’t think.

43

Male
38
Strongly agree.

44

Not even remotely. Everyone who responded has been self-selected. This sample is entirely non-random, composed of people who A) Are Dopers, B) Read IMHO, C) Read this thread, and D) Cared enough about the topic to respond.

45

I don’t care. I’m telling you anyway.

Male
18
Strongly agree

46

What, precisely, is the purpose of a non-random, non-population-based, self-selecting, convenience sample for a statistics course? As a case study in how not to do it? :rolleyes:

And it’s mathematics, dammit. Show some respect. :dubious:

47

female, 35, agree

48

Female
33
Agree
(I’d better, I teach the stuff!)

49

Female, 38, strongly agree.

Qualifier for the strongly agree: I love geometry.

And as self-selecting goes, this doesn’t seem any worse than polling your family.

50

Male,
43,
Strongly Agree.

51

Female
40
Strongly Disagree. (I’m a word person.)

52

I’m such a loser that I was actually thinking about this on the way home yesterday.

At my job, quite often people propose that they will obtain information on a certain matter by “surveying” folks. But they seem to lack appreciation for the difficulty of phrasing questions in a way that you can be certain of what the answers mean.

For example, the question was “I like math”, and I initially interpreted the option “Strongly disagree” to mean “I really dislike math.” But I realized it does not necessarily mean anything of the sort. Instead, it could just mean that I firmly understand that I do not “like” math. Quite different than actual dislike.

Just wanted to clarify a point I feel too many people overlook. The mere fact that you are assigning numerical values to things and “counting” them, doesn’t mean that you are accomplishing anything of value - or even realize exactly what you are quantifying. It can be very difficult to ensure that your respondents asre answering the question you intended to ask.

53

I don’t know if you have enough yet, but I’ll answer

Male
20
Strongly Agree

Brendon